Chicago is looking to start 2016 in a big way, with a large-scale New Year's Eve celebration it hopes will rival New York's, packing in tens of thousands of revelers downtown.

The free six-hour event will bring fireworks, music and other attractions to a stretch along the Chicago River between Michigan Avenue and Columbus Drive. WMAQ-Ch.5 will air a live countdown to midnight, with plans for a regional TV network to carry the 90-minute broadcast.

Organizers are deliberately dropping the ball — the centerpiece of the venerable Times Square celebration — opting instead for an ascending Chicago star to see in the New Year.

Dubbed "Chi-Town Rising," the New Year's Eve event is privately funded and produced but will be promoted by the city through its tourism arm, Choose Chicago, as well as the Illinois Office of Tourism. The aim is to launch a new tradition to encourage visitors to come to Chicago during the winter, when the city's tourism numbers usually go into a deep freeze.

"A big part of this event is finding reasons for people to come and embrace Chicago as a winter and holiday destination," said John Murray, founder of Arena Partners, which is producing the event. "The hope is that this event will grow over time as a tradition, and that it will be a tent pole in a festival of events in wintertime for Chicago."

Murray, the former chief bid officer for Chicago's failed effort to get the 2016 Olympics, also co-founded the Chicago Sports Commission in 2011, which was instrumental in luring the NFL Draft to Chicago. Last year he started Arena Partners, a management consulting firm that took on the New Year's Eve event as a passion — and potentially profitable — project.

Promotional copies of the paper were handed out to commuters at Union Station on Thursday morning with a cover announcing...

After more than a year of planning, the event's budget is "well into seven figures," Murray said, with the lion's share coming from event sponsors Corona Extra and Hyatt Gold Passport.

Arena will be responsible for any city costs incurred with the event, Murray said.

"I do hope that someday this is profitable, but I don't anticipate making a profit this year," Murray said.

A number of cities have major New Year's Eve events, including London, Sydney and Dubai, which last year lit up the world's tallest skyscraper with 70,000 panels of LED bulbs. New York hosts the granddaddy of them all, with its annual celebration dating to 1904. The inaugural rooftop event was engineered by The New York Times, which had just opened its new headquarters in an area renamed Times Square. The ball drop began in 1907, an enduring tradition that has become an international symbol for New Year's Eve.

The Chicago event has a long way to go to catch up with New York, but the plans are ambitious nonetheless.

Murray projects that the New Year's Eve event will draw upward of 100,000 visitors to the city in year one. Attractions will include multiple stages featuring "top musical talent" that has yet to be announced, along with other entertainment. One stage will be in Pioneer Court near Tribune Tower, with the main stage at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

The event will feature fireworks launched from the roofs of buildings along the river, including the Hyatt Regency. The new display will be synchronized with the annual New Year's Eve fireworks at Navy Pier, Murray said.

A promotional blitz is scheduled to hit over the next few months with digital, social media, television, radio, print and outdoor campaigns planned. The event will also be promoted in regional markets, including Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee and St. Louis, as well as any markets that pick up the New Year's Eve TV broadcast.

"This is exactly the type of demand generator we need to encourage travel to Chicago during the winter season," said Don Welsh, Choose Chicago's president.

Murray believes the New Year's Eve event can be as successful as the NFL Draft, which drew 200,000 visitors to Grant Park this spring, earning the city a return engagement next year.

But there have also been flameouts like The Great Chicago Fire Festival, where floating houses failed to ignite on the river in front of thousands of spectators during its inaugural run last fall. The event, which was produced by Redmoon Theater and funded in part by city money, was moved to Northerly Island for a second shot this year, on Sept. 26.

Chicago's notoriously unpredictable winter weather will not play a role in the success or failure of the outdoor New Year's Eve event, Murray said.

"Chicago has four seasons, and we embrace all of them," Murray said. "The weather doesn't stop us."